John Edward Dooley was born July 12, 1842 in Richmond, Va. He began his studies at Georgetown College in 1856. While Dooley was at Georgetown sectional feeling was on the rise; by 1858, in fact, he belonged to a cadet company formed on campus by Southern students. Though still at Georgetown when war broke out, by early 1862 he had left the college in order to fight for the Confederacy. In Aug. 1862, Dooley enlisted as a private in D Company, First Regiment, Virginia Infantry (Dooley's father served in the same regiment as commander of C Company). John E. Dooley saw considerable action during the war, fighting in the battles of Second Manassas, Antietam and Fredericksburg. He was made a Captain in Kemper's Second Brigade of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg, where he participated in the division's ill-fated assault against Hancock's line. It was during this action, known as Pickett's Charge, that Dooley was wounded in the thigh and taken prisoner by the Union Army on July 3, 1863. As a prisoner of war, Dooley was sent to the Federal Prison on Johnson's Island near Sandusky, Ohio. Upon his release in 1865 Dooley returned to Georgetown College, where in Sept. of that year he entered the Society of Jesus. He died at Georgetown on May 8, 1873, only nine months before his intended date of ordination.
From the description of The John E. Dooley, S.J., papers, 1862-1865. (Georgetown University). WorldCat record id: 225075296
